In The Works:By most measures, the Cheshire murders are the most shocking crime in the history of the state of Connecticut. A home invaded, a father beaten and left for dead, his wife and two daughters held captive, the mother and the 11-year-old raped, then all three murdered. The fact that two career-criminals out on parole were captured leaving the house, a home that had been set ablaze ostensibly to cover bloody tracks, has only made the crime more unimaginable--if that is even possible. The reporing of this story has been on one hand rather smooth. Partly because of a title wave of community outrage causing political pressure, and partly because of pressure from the local press, much of the official documentation of the case and the alleged murderers have been released. But getting real people who are close to the story to talk has not been easy. If you have information about this crime that you would like to share, you can contact me by email: writeherenow@ |
WorksLast Call at Elaine’s: A Journey From One Side Of The Bar To The Other
You may be weary of redemption stories--but this is different. The richness is in the writing: detailed, funny and with a certain barroom pungency. Elaine, herself, has been written about dozens of times but never with such insight, such tenderness. Brian McDonald has a sharp eye and an even sharper ear for New York after dark. --Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes My Father’s Gun: One Family, Three Badges, One Hundred Years In The NYPD
Brilliant… a completely captivating read. Warm, observant, and heartfelt… A marvelous combination of Wambaugh’s police writing and Tobias Wolff’s wonderfully insightful family memoirs…McDonald does a superb job of showing his character’ connection to their place, time, and their relationships to one another… An American Classic --Flint Journal "A lucid chronicle." --The New Yorker Safe Harbor: A Murder in Nantucket
Elizabeth Lochtefeld was a glowing, charismatic and driven woman who’d built a million-dollar fortune in Manhattan before settling into a new life in one of America’s most elite resort communities. She’d planned to dedicate the rest of her life to charity and to marry and finally start a family of her own. When Lochtefeld met thirty-seven year-old Tim Toolan, a tall, strapping, and handsome Columbia graduate and Wall Street ace, she thought she’d found Mr. Right. She told friends she was in love. She hinted at marriage. But soon she saw past the Golden Boy facade, finding a troubled man with a history of erratic behavior. Two days after she ended the affair, she lay dead on the floor of her Nantucket cottage. Indian Summer
Indian Summer deserves a gracious welcome. This book is not only well researched, but the story of Sockalexis is carefully placed in its historical context. It's a sad story and McDonald understands the nuances. --Boston Globe Sockalexis drank himself out of the league and to an early death in 1913, at the age of 42. Indian Summer movingly tells his story. --The New York Times |
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